


Going to Get You

by SlasherFiend



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Demonic Possession, Demons, Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, Exorcisms, Fake Character Death, Kidnapping, M/M, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Past Rape/Non-con, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Psychological Torture, Regret, Tony Stark Has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Torture, Waterboarding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-13 21:51:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16480409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlasherFiend/pseuds/SlasherFiend
Summary: Tony wakes up in a cave, separated from the other Avengers. He doesn't know how he got there or why he's been locked away. Things start to happen and they're more supernatural, staring from the darkness with glowing green eyes.





	Going to Get You

**Author's Note:**

> This is set after my fic Bring the Pain, following the alternate IW canon I set there. You don't have to read that one first to read this one. Just know Stephen banished Thanos to Titan and no one died.
> 
> This is marked mature for the torture and implied themes in here, and swearing. There's no sex.
> 
> Kind of went heavy on the Stephen/Tony more than the three of them together oops.

Tony felt his senses return, not sure when he’d fallen asleep but at least there was quiet.

 

The disaster Thanos could have caused, the gravity of what they had stopped was…Something was wrong.

 

He felt dirt under his body.

 

He opened his eyes and sat up, brushing off his dark shirt before skirting around to feel that there were no nanobots. Panic flared for a second and he got to his feet.

 

He stepped forward and ran into a thick steel door.

 

Tony blinked, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, but they didn’t. It was pitch black.

 

Tony’s heart skipped a beat and he felt around the door for any openings. All he encountered were bars with barely enough space for him to stick a hand through.

 

His breathing hitched as he went to the wall and back and found an area where the bars were broken near the door.

 

Tony turned, shoes grinding in the dirt, and he grunted as he stuck his arm through, trying to reach the lock on the door. But it was too far away. He pulled his arm back and let out a humorless laugh.

 

“Hello?”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

There was an emergency meeting at the Avengers Compound.

 

Rhodey, Steve, Bruce, human Vision and Stephen Strange all stood or sat around while Natasha was in the corner of the meeting room.

 

Peter and Wanda were off outside.

 

Thor was trying to contact his people with the Guardians to be able to settle them on Earth.

 

Sam was with Bucky in Wakanda, taking care of some things and cleaning up.

 

“What do you mean Tony’s missing?” Bruce stared at Rhodey, confused, not sure he had heard him. “I thought he was with you?” He turned to Stephen.

 

“He was, during the celebration of Thanos’ defeat.”

 

Bruce had gone to talk to Nat during that time, to clear the air with her.

 

“We went to bed, but when I awoke this morning, he was gone. I assumed there was nothing out of the ordinary for him to choose multiple bed partners.”

 

“Maybe in the past, but…” Bruce shook his head. “He’s not like that anymore.”

 

Stephen’s eyes narrowed. “I thought he was exclusively with you, that I was a distraction while you looked the other way.”

 

“No. No, I haven’t been around in-“ Bruce glanced at Steve. “In two years. I wasn’t expecting him to wait for me. Hell, I didn’t even know if I was going to come back.”

 

“We met yesterday.”

 

“Ok, I don’t think this is the time to figure out Tony’s relationship status.” Steve leaned back against the wall.

 

“Can’t we just track Tony’s suit?” Bruce turned back to Rhodey, who seemed lost in thought.

 

“Perhaps if he had the nano bots on his person,” Vision said slowly. “But…” He pulled the glowing container out of his pants pocket and set it on the table.

 

“Shit.” Bruce ran a hand over his face and into his hair.

 

“I found this sitting on the table before anyone had arrived.”

 

Bruce gave a slight tug on his curls. “Ok, why would someone take Tony? We just saved the world, probably the whole universe and-and someone just grabbed him? Why?”

 

“Forgive me Dr. Banner I have stated this before, but as you pointed out you were not here for this conversation. But when more super heroes or beings are created, like me, a vacuum is created of equal or much more powerful beings to match us. In short, we create our own rivals.”

 

“But we just took down the biggest threat known to man and someone thought they could take advantage of the situation and take Tony?!” Bruce gestured out of the meeting room and his voice growled deep and his eyes turned green.

 

Natasha got up. “Hey, how about we get some air?”

 

Bruce sighed. “Yeah, ok. Update me if you find anything?”

 

Steve nodded as the two walked out.

 

“Has anyone informed Ms. Potts?” Stephen’s gaze found Rhodey.

 

“I didn’t want to alarm her. She had to deal with the fact that Tony had been in space again first. But she knows Tony isn’t always on time and the whole world knows Iron Man helped save the day, so they might cut him a little slack.”

 

“We need a game plan,” Steve said, turning to them. “I was going to contact Shuri, to see if she can find anything out of the ordinary, start there. In the meantime, Rhodey you can keep an eye on Pepper and Stark Industries, in case something turns up there. Vision, you stay here. The others will be around, and they’ll be placed as needed.”

 

Everyone nodded and left.

 

Stephen stayed behind. “I will check in between realms for help, if that is acceptable.”

 

Steve gave a nod. “Of course.”

 

Stephen went through a portal, back to the Sanctum.

 

~~~~~~~~

 

Tony sat back down, it wasn’t like he could go anywhere.

 

He tried not to let the darkness get to him, whispers of space or a cave with a car battery hooked to his chest.

 

He had no idea how long he had been here or why.

 

He thought of better things, he needed to. He thought of Pepper and how he had told her about dreaming of having a child.

 

He called her during the celebration, everyone had stayed in Wakanda, it was easier than leaving.

 

“Tony are you ok?” Of course she hadn’t even known he was back on Earth.

 

“Yeah!” He had shouted over the fireworks and ecstatic people.

 

He had wandered away, to find somewhere quiet to be. He wasn’t sure, but thought he saw Loki for a moment.

 

“Thank God, I was so worried. When your call dropped out…You know I always think the worst…”

 

“Sorry about that, just took a trip to space. I’ll have to find a way to communicate outside of the satellites if I go again.” Tony didn’t want to go again, not for a long time, or maybe ever.

 

“It was all over the news that a disaster was averted. Who was this Thanos?”

 

“Delusional guy bent on destroying the universe, you know the everyday stuff. Apparently from what his daughters told me he wasn’t the warm and fuzzy type. Which would explain why he thought ripping half of the universe away would balance it. Just could have used the stones to create more resources.” Tony sniffed, even if Thanos had a point he had gone about everything the wrong way.

 

Pepper was talking to someone on the other end of the line.

 

“Hey Pep?”

 

“Yes Tony? One moment please.” The background noise was silenced on her end.

 

“Remember what feels like centuries ago how I told you I wanted children?”

 

“Of course,” she replied slowly.

 

“I want you to be a surrogate.”

 

“What?”

 

“Bruce is back and seeing him felt amazing, like I was missing a limb. Even if the limb was a Green Giant rage monster…Will you do this for us?”

 

“Does Bruce even know?”

 

“No, we haven’t had too long to talk. He’s around somewhere.” Tony turned to glance back at the throng of people.

 

“Tony, this is very serious.”

 

“My feelings for Bruce are serious. I can tell him later, I figure the world will need a day to recover as it is.”

 

“Well I’m holding you to that mister. I’ll mark it in your calendar.”

 

Tony rolled his eyes.

 

Pepper laughed, and he joined in, smiling.

 

“Have a good siesta Pepper, I’ll call tomorrow.”

 

“You have to pick out a name now.”

 

“Jarvis.”

 

“No, Tony-“

 

“Yes, it’s perfect.”

 

“Well run it by Bruce first, I think he’ll disagree.”

 

Tony swore he could hear her smiling.

 

“I expect you back after tomorrow.”

 

Tony stole another glance back at the people and it seemed Steve and Bucky were hanging off each other. “We’ll pencil in a date and time to get your eggs all done up, ok?”

 

“Ok.”

 

Tony’s eyes landed on Stephen, who was talking with someone through a portal. “Night, Pepper.”

 

“Good night Tony.”

 

Tony had hung up and went over. “That was some nice work you did. So, tell me again why you didn’t keep the world’s worst participation trophy?”

 

Stephen turned, closing the portal. “I am already Sorcerer Supreme, I don’t need more Infinity stones to aid my power.”

 

“I could argue that.” Tony took a long drag of his eyes up and down Stephen’s body. “How about you show me what your power can do somewhere else?”

 

“Are you suggesting we sleep together?”

 

Tony scoffed. “Well when you put it like that it sounds like we’re having a sleepover.”

 

“I thought you were over sleeping with numerous people.”

 

“I am, I was sort of waiting for someone. Not moving on, but…” Tony frowned. “This will be a one-night thing, don’t worry. I just want to see what’s under that cloak.”

 

Stephen smiled slowly, and they had walked off together, the cloak slapping Tony’s ass.

 

Tony came out of his thoughts as his stomach grumbled.

 

He thought he heard something scuttle through on the other side of the bars.

 

“Hello?” He got up.

 

A bright light on a stand turned on down a passage ten feet on the other side of the bars.

 

There was a bend near the light, but he couldn’t see anything past that, even if he was squinting.

 

“Hello?”

 

The light shut off.

 

Tony put his hand on the bars and went to sit down when something heavy dragged past very slowly. _Body_ Tony thought.

 

The light clicked on once the sound was gone. There was nothing.

 

“This isn’t funny! I know that sounds like a line from a bad horror movie but I’m kind of out of my element here. What do you want?”

 

The light clicked off.

 

“I’m hungry.” Tony didn’t like this, the hair on the back of his neck stood up.

 

The light clicked on, it hummed, buzzing loudly.

 

“I’ve been kidnapped before, I know this isn’t standard procedure.” Tony’s voice wavered a little, this was strange, and he didn’t like it.

 

The light buzzed louder, and he swallowed with a click.

 

The light crackled and then popped, exploding.

 

The resulting shrapnel hit Tony in the chest and he threw himself back, pawing at his chest.

 

God not again, was he bleeding? He didn’t feel anything wet, maybe it had just missed him.

 

The scar where the arc reactor used to be ached.

 

He didn’t realize he was breathing hard till he heard his own panicked gasps. He tried to slow his breathing, focusing on images of Bruce and Stephen in his head.

 

He managed to calm and leaned against the wall. His stomach growled.

 

~~~~~~~

 

Meanwhile Steve was talking to Shuri through face time in the Compound.

 

“I’ve run all the scans and tests I can think of but the energy I picked up is something I’ve never seen before.”

 

“And it came from the room Strange and Tony were in?”

 

“Yes. It is possible it could be a rift of some kind. I don’t know what energy those emit…or it could be just a residue from Doctor Strange himself. Whatever it is it lasted for a few minutes.” She pulled up a thermal image of the hall which showed the room Tony and Stephen had been in covered in dark blue. “The energy was about 50 degrees Fahrenheit which is ridiculous because the rest of the rooms, even with no one in them were still five or ten degrees warmer. And it’s too early for it to be that cold at night.”

 

“So, it certainly isn’t natural.”

 

Shuri shook her head. “No, it isn’t. And it vanishes after five minutes and doesn’t come back.”

 

“I’ll send Wanda to look it over, just in case.”

 

~~~~~~

 

Tony opened his eyes, he didn’t realize he had closed them, didn’t think he could rest in this place.

 

He sat up with a groan.

 

Something shivered over his body, he jerked, he couldn’t move, the shimmering clanked. It was metal.

 

There was a sound of footsteps passing by in the hall.

 

“Hello?” Tony struggled, clanging against the metal. “What’s the point of this? I have a team looking for me you know.”

 

Tony settled and the slight shimmer from the metal looked like a skull if he squinted. It looked like Stephen. Stephen’s skull.

 

The breath left Tony’s body.

 

He shut his eyes. It wasn’t real, his mind was playing tricks on him, Stephen was alive, Stephen was fine, Stephen was-

 

“Not coming for you,” a voice whispered.

 

“What?” Tony turned to the hall, eyes snapping open.

 

A moment passed and Tony thought. He knew Stephen was in Wakanda, with the others, or back in New York with them. He was fine. He-

 

“Isn’t coming. No one is.”

 

“Seriously? Come over here and show yourself, it’s really rude to stay hidden this whole time.”

 

A thought pushed to the front of Tony’s mind, a memory.

 

He was in bed with Stephen and there was a sound.

 

Tony had woken and seen a dark mist. There was something unnatural about the mist and apparently Tony had done something because Stephen woke and got up.

 

The mist lunged and pierced Stephen through the heart and enveloped Tony and-

 

“No, that isn’t what happened,” Tony muttered with ground teeth. Stephen was fine, he wasn’t dead.

 

But the image was persistent, blood dripping down from Stephen’s mouth as he sank to the floor, a voice cackling in the background, now overhead Tony.

 

“No one is coming for you, the only one who knows you are here is dead. You will die here.”

 

The familiar unsettling coldness seeped into Tony’s bones, the one he had felt in space during the battle of New York. “No, no,” he mumbled. The others would find him, there had to be something, some clue…

 

“You’ll die in this cave, alone, and no one will ever find you.”

 

Tony bit his lip and tried to not to cry, or let his mind snap, it felt on the edge of collapsing.

 

~~~~~~

 

Wanda was led to the room where Tony and Stephen had been, and she thanked the guard. Already she could feel an imbalance, a darkness, but it was quickly overshadowed by strong magic.

 

“Anything?” Steve asked in her earpiece.

 

“Just a residue, whatever was here Strange must have blasted away.”

 

“You can only feel him?”

 

“There might have been a fight, but yes, it is only Strange.”

 

“Can you follow it?”

 

“Won’t that lead me back to the Compound?” She stopped, and her eyes were drawn to a dark mark on the floor.

 

“We just have to check everything. Strange was the last person to see Tony and if he knows something I would hate to ask why he’s keeping it a secret.”

 

Wanda sighed and let out her magic, scanning the room and shuddered as it got to the farthest corner, on the other side of the mark. “He opened a portal, I don’t think I can follow it.”

 

“Can you come back to the Compound and see if it matches the one he made earlier?”

 

“I can try, this is certainly an older residue.”

 

“I’ll call Strange and ask him more on what he knows.” Wanda hurried out of the room and didn’t hear a echoing laugh.

 

~~~~~~~

 

Stephen was in the Sanctum, poring over books, trying to identify what he had seen last night with its glowing green eyes and dark shape. He was sure it hadn’t been a nightmare, he had seen it with his eyes and Tony had too, he had even gotten out of bed to stare at it.

 

Stephen flipped through books till he realized he was edging to the section on the Dark Dimension.

 

Stephen opened a few books and resisted saying the names of the things in there aloud, barely even thinking them. He didn’t want to draw anything to Earth while he was searching for Tony.

 

Wong came up behind Stephen as he researched. “What are you looking for?”

 

“A…creature. I saw it briefly last night. It had hair, I think, in black waves and glowing green eyes, it might have known who I was, it focused on me.”

 

“But it left you alone?” Wong pulled a book down from the shelf on Stephen’s right and opened it.

 

“I don’t know where it went.” Stephen massaged his forehead and leaned back. The cloak came over and patted his forehead.

 

“You have to be careful, that was a demon called Nightmare.”

 

“Demon?” Stephen leaned forward as Wong put the book on the table and turned it to see the illustration.

 

Stephen’s eyes scanned over the page. “Feeds off fear…” Stephen glanced up at Wong. “All the other Avengers were worried for Tony, do you think-?” Stephen heard a ringing and he paused. “Excuse me.”

 

He followed the ringing to a small study and saw an old black dial telephone on a small dark wooden stool.

 

Stephen picked it up. “Hello?”

 

“Strange, this is Steve.”

 

“Have you made any progress Captain?”

 

“I can’t tell yet. But I was wondering if you can explain what happened last night. Wanda found some dark energy in the room and an overflow of yours. Did you attack something? Go anywhere?”

 

“There was a dark shadow, I thought I was dreaming, must have been a nightmare-“

 

“Nightmare. I am Nightmare, I have been summoned,” something whispered in Stephen’s ear and his eyes rolled back in his head and he fainted.

 

He lay still on the floor till a dark shadow covered his body and his eyes glowed green. He got on his feet and hung up the phone, then opened a portal and stepped through.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Tony’s throat was dry, he licked his lips, sitting against the wall.

 

He knew it would take too long to die here, it would be a slow and dreadful death. He could always take the easy way out and strangle himself. It wouldn’t be that hard to wrap his fingers around his throat and press and…

 

Were those footsteps again? Tony sighed, whatever or whoever it was that was messing with him had to stop, it was just annoying now. “Look, the poltergeist thing was cute the first two times, but you have to either step up your game or just kill me now.”

 

A shadow stood in front of the cell door and bright green eyes gazed at Tony.

 

The door creaked open.

 

Tony didn’t know what was happening, just that he was afraid, his body refused to move, it was like he was paralyzed. Like that time with Obi, watching in horror as the arc reactor cleared his chest, pulling free with a last gurgle in his throat…

 

Tony shook his head, trying to clear it, to not hyperventilate.

 

Suddenly water was dumped over Tony’s head. “Wh-?” He spluttered and shook his head, backing against the wall as far as he could.

 

More water was dumped on Tony while the person held Tony down.

 

He choked and flailed, panicking. Fuck it was like ten years ago had just been a rest and suddenly old wounds were reopened spilling darkness and blood around him.

 

Tony tried to move away, but the glowing green eyes held him in place. He struggled, crying out, trying not to drown, to inhale.

 

He shook his head to get the water out of his eyes. He took a few deep breathes. “What the _fuck_ do you want?” Really was there any point to this?

 

“I already have it.”

 

Tony’s blood froze. That was-“Strange?” Or were they on a first name basis now? Except Stephen sounded off.

 

"What is wrong with you?” Tony tried to get up, but Stephen didn’t let go. “If this is some kind of initiation you wizards do then I don’t want any part of it.”

 

“I want your fear,” Stephen snarled in a raspy voice.

 

“Why? You have it!”

 

“More!” Stephen shoved Tony against the wall, knocking his head against the rock.

 

Tony saw stars and the green eyes. “Strange this isn’t you! You have to fight it!” Tony struggled.

 

Stephen waved a hand and it felt like a thousand needles were jabbing into Tony at once.

 

He cried out. “Stephen, stop! You have to get your mind back!” The needles pushed in farther, piercing through his skin, his organs…He screamed.

 

Stephen’s vision was dark, he blinked to clear it, but it was still dark. He felt off, like motion sickness.

 

Someone right next to him screamed. Stephen recoiled. “What-?”

 

“Stephen,” Tony panted. “There’s something wrong with you.”

 

“Stark?”

 

“Shit, so we’re not first name fuck buddies?”

 

Stephen’s hands were raised in a spell, he dropped them.

 

Tony groaned, sliding down the wall a little.

 

“Where are we?”

 

“I have no idea. I don’t even know how long I’ve been here.” Tony felt out Stephen’s cloak but didn’t find it, only his leg. “Where’s your magic carpet?”

 

Stephen felt about for the cloak. “I’m not sure,” he said slowly.

 

“Do you remember getting here?”

 

Stephen shook his head. “No, I…the last thing I remember is talking to Captain Rogers on the phone.”

 

Tony didn’t like the sound of that. “There’s something inside you, you have to get it out.” He got up, leaning on Stephen.

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“I know we aren’t that close, great sex notwithstanding, but I’m pretty sure you don’t have Cheshire cat green eyes.”

 

A cold shiver ran down Stephen’s spine. “We have to get out of here.”

 

“Kind of already figured that. You got a key?”

 

“Key?” Stephen put out a shield, to illuminate where they were.

 

Stark squinted in the orange glow and Stephen noticed the bars. “Why would I-?”

 

“I think you put me in here. Or the thing that’s inside you did at least.”

 

Stephen patted himself down. “No key.”

 

“Figures,” Tony sighed. “Can you at least get us past these bars? They’ve been the bane of my existence for hours or days now.”

 

“I can, but first I want you to get this out of me.”

 

Tony took a step back. “That’s not my department.”

 

“I’ll walk you through it. You’ll have to repeat the spell, but it should work.”

 

“Should,” Tony mumbled.

 

“If the thing is too strong it won’t work, but I don’t know how powerful this being is so we’ll see.”

 

“What do you want me to do?” Tony’s voice was soft, he had to do this, he had to help Stephen, to save Stephen from that thing. Stephen depended on him.

 

Stephen got down on his back. “Hold me down.”

 

Tony moved around Stephen to hold his wrists.

 

“You have to pin my entire body, if I have any limb loose I could hurt you or myself.”

 

Tony laid on top of Stephen, holding his wrists down. “You know if you wanted to have some fun again you could have just asked.”

 

Stephen ignored that. “Say everything I say. Relinquo.”

 

“Relinque.”

 

“No, there’s an O, it’s Latin. Relinquo.”

 

“Relinquo.”

 

“Good. Extra corpus! Daemonium relinquo! Say it three times.”

 

Tony messed up the first time, cursing under his breath, but managed to say it correctly three times.

 

The air around them got freezing cold and Stephen stiffened, eyes glowing green and the swirling dark rose around Tony again.

 

“What am I supposed to do now?”

 

Stephen jerked, snarling, and Tony held on.

 

“What do you fear most?” Stephen hissed, moving up easily like Tony weighed nothing, and got Tony on his stomach.

 

Tony kicked out, but Stephen grabbed his ankle, spread his legs, hovered over him…No, no not again!

 

He scrabbled at the dirt, trying to pull himself away, to get the heavy body off his back. If only the fucking battery didn’t weigh so much. Yinsen sat in a corner not watching as Tony’s pants were pulled down, harsh words rained down on Tony’s head as he closed his eyes and thought of something else, of home and Pepper.

 

Pepper…Pepper who was going to be his surrogate. He had a family to get back to.

 

His eyes snapped open and he shouted the words again, hearing the demon groan and Stephen flopped onto his back.

 

Tony sat on his chest and held his hands down. “Stephen! Can you hear me?”

 

Stephen mumbled something and wriggled, then said something Tony didn’t catch, probably in another language and there was a burst of orange around them.

 

Tony watched it fade away, then turned to Stephen. “What was that?”

 

“I locked the demon in my body,” Stephen panted. “We can go to the Sanctum or the compound and exorcise it there.”

 

Tony got off Stephen and helped him to his feet. “Can you get us out of here first? I want to be able to take a breath and not feel like I’m in a mausoleum.” Or buried alive. Tony ignored the shiver that went up his back.

 

Stephen opened a portal, it flickered, and Tony went through it as quick as he could, not wanting to stay any longer.

 

Stephen followed, and they were in the Avengers Compound.

 

Tony sighed and leaned against Stephen. Then alarms went off.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Tony stood with Bruce on one side and the rest of the Avengers around his back.

 

Stephen sat on the floor, eyes closed, meditating.

 

“Let me get this right,” Rhodey said slowly. “You want Bruce to hold Strange down as the Hulk while we perform an exorcism?”

 

“We’re not going to do it; his friend Wong is.” Tony nodded at Stephen.

 

“And what are the rest of us supposed to do?”

 

“Moral support.” Tony was chewing on what was left of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “You’re plan B if something goes wrong.”

 

Tony patted Bruce on the back. “Ready?”

 

“I will be when Wong shows up.”

 

“Strange, can you call him?”

 

Stephen opened his eyes and spun a portal.

 

Wong stepped through.

 

“You can exorcise this bastard and send him back to where he came from, right?”

 

“Only the Sorcerer Supreme can banish demons. But I will help.” Wong pulled up some orange sigils.

 

Bruce changed into the Hulk.

 

“Hey big guy, you know Stephen, don’t you?” Tony put a hand on Hulk’s arm.

 

Hulk nodded.

 

“We need you to hold him down so the monster inside can leave. It’s really strong.”

 

“Hulk strong.” Hulk walked over and used one hand to push Stephen down.

 

“Don’t bruise him.”

 

Stephen grunted.

 

“Everyone ready in case something goes horribly wrong?” Tony turned to glance at the others.

 

“Just shut up and do it already,” Natasha muttered with a small smile, trying to make Tony feel better.

 

Wong said something in another language, hands moving slowly over Stephen, the lights flickered, a high-pitched screeching sounded in the room.

 

The others turned, holding their ears as it got louder, Wanda clung to Vision.

 

Lights exploded, windows shattered, Stephen tried to raise off the ground, Hulk huffed and held him down.

 

Wong’s voice grew louder, and Stephen thrashed, back arching as a dark figure with wild black hair and glowing green eyes drew out.

 

Everything calmed down and all eyes were on the figure.

 

“Let him up,” Tony muttered to Hulk, feeling like his chest would burst if he said anything too loud.

 

Hulk moved back, and Stephen wrapped the figure in orange rope.

 

“What is that?” Clint said from the doorway.

 

“What are you doing here?” Natasha went over to him.

 

“I’m still an Avenger and with the crisis of Thanos averted I wanted to come talk. Thanks for telling me about that by the way.” He nodded at Tony.

 

“This is Nightmare, a demon from the Dream Dimension, an off chute of the Dark Dimension,” Stephen grunted as the demon strained.

 

“Demons are real? And you are?”

 

“I’ll fill you in, come on,” Natasha told Clint as she went over to him. “Best to keep an eye on them just in case from a vantage point,” she whispered.

 

Clint nodded.

 

“So what do you want? Why are you here? I feel like it’s obvious with your name, but we just saved the world. Why fuck with that?” Tony gazed at Nightmare’s face.

 

Nightmare turned sharply to Tony and lunged.

 

Stephen yanked, and his rope slipped.

 

“Hulk smash!”

 

“No wait!” Stephen tried to hold Hulk back. “He’s not tangible!”

 

Wong shot rope out as well.

 

“Wanda, Vision now!” Steve ducked as they used their powers to hold Nightmare back.

 

Tony took a step back and Nightmare laughed, raspy and cold.

 

“You are easily afraid.”

 

“He feeds off fear,” Stephen said as Hulk dropped his arm.

 

“The Sorcerer was weakened, and I found an easy way in, I could use you to have a lasting food supply.”

 

Tony ground his teeth. “Till I died,” he hissed.

 

“I wouldn’t have let you die,” Nightmare chuckled. “With you missing it would have been a constant ache for the sorcerer, a steady chink in his defenses that I could use.”

 

Hulk growled and tried to punch Nightmare.

 

Tony moved forward, hands out. “Hey, hang on big fella. Let Stephen launch his ass back to the dirt hole he climbed out of.”

 

Stephen opened a portal, Tony could see on the other side nothing but darkness.

 

They moved Nightmare towards the portal.

 

“I will be back! You cannot keep me away forever!”

 

Tony rolled his eyes and Nightmare was shoved through the portal and it closed.

 

Stephen sighed, and the others dispersed, save for Rhodey as Hulk turned back into Bruce.

 

Wong told Stephen, “I will be at the Sanctum with food if you want it.” He opened a portal and left.

 

Rhodey went over to Tony. “You’ll be ok, won’t you?”

 

Tony turned, flashing a smile. “Of course. It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.”

 

Rhodey hugged him and left slowly.

 

Tony groaned as Bruce wrapped his arms around him.

 

“I was so worried we weren’t going to find you.”

 

“Well I wasn’t going to give up, it was just a cave, like I told Rhodey, nothing I couldn’t handle.”

 

“I hurt you.”

 

Tony and Bruce glanced at Stephen.

 

“I’m sorry, I should have been aware of my surroundings, the possibility of attack…”

 

“Hey,” Tony held up a hand, cutting Stephen off. “It’s ok. And we had some great sex.” Tony turned to Bruce. “Not that I haven’t missed you but Strange is-“

 

“Different and exciting, I get it.”

 

Tony smiled softly and kissed Bruce. “You’re so understanding.”

 

“I don’t understand.” Stephen’s brow furrowed.

 

“I’m making an offer, if Bruce is ok with it. I don’t want to let go of whatever it is that we developed during the almost death experience and fight with a large purple Grape Ape. So I’m opening my doors to you, and keeping them open to Bruce.”

 

“Ah.” Stephen glanced at the floor.

 

“Think about it, there’s no reason to rush into it,” Bruce told him.

 

Stephen nodded.

 

Bruce left with Tony, to go to his room.

 

~~~~~~

 

That night Tony woke from a cold sweat and saw Stephen standing over him.

 

There was a moment and they locked eyes, then they said nothing as Stephen curled around Tony, keeping him between his body and Bruce.

 

Tony fell asleep, having everything he needed right here, but swore to tell Bruce about the baby thing tomorrow.

 

Stephen relaxed, feeling that with some time he would feel less horrible about what he had done and perhaps earn his place in Tony’s life.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm shipperfiendobssesser on tumblr as my main and I still don't know how to link here.  
> Tell me if I missed a tag.


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